Received "Cocoon" today, and just downloaded it, but am still listening to "Heaven Can Wait," which arrived yesterday. The little I've played of "Cocoon" sounds great, reminding me why it was one of the first James Horner scores to bring him to my attention nearly 30 years ago. Although I was aware of some of his music before then -- "Star Treks 2 & 3," "Testament," "Brainstorm," and others -- it was "Cocoon" that really made me sit up and take notice of him.

I have always had a soft spot for "Brainstorm" and "Wrath of Khan", but "Cocoon" I think is one of James' loveliest, most rhapsodic scores. And, boy, it is wonderful to hear it again in such clarity. Parts seem really quite different from the old vinyl album, but I still love that, nonetheless. I think I only saw the movie one time, on its theatrical release at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, in 1985, so I am feeling like a return visit is imminent. Thanks, Nick, Douglass, Mike and all involved. Wonderful release!

Obviously Horner's music for "Cocoon" struck you like it did for so many of us. I just fell in love with it while watching the movie when it was first released, and would buy it on VHS and then DVD and then Blu-ray, but, music-wise, started with the CD and totally bypassing LP -- for anything that came out in 1983 and afterwards, I stuck with getting the CD, and have played much of the original soundtrack repeatedly, especially "First Tears" and "Sad Goodbye," which I used to like to couple together in compilation tapes I was making 30 years ago. Yikes -- I just noticed that since both the old CD and the new one have the same name, my iTunes has combined them as a single album. Will have to give the new one something to distinguish it from the other -- months from now it might be hard to remember which are which!

Follow-Up. I've had a chance to play it, and while it sounds great, I want to play it a couple more times before making any comment on it. Some here have mentioned the Big Band music, and I think that this part (by Julie Kirgo) of the nice liner note booklet is worth sharing:

As gorgeous as these lyrical moments are -- and as plentifully arrayed with them as the score for Cocoon is -- they are not the only weapons from the composer's arsenal on display here. On tap also is that rare delight, the playful Horner, making hay with an absolutely irresistible bit of Big Band-style swing ("Going To The Pool," "Seduction"/"Let's Go," and most completely in "The Boys Are Out"). Marvelously authentic and just plain fun, this is music that also serves an important narrative function, reminding us of the long-gone youth of the film's protagonists. In a whole other mood, there is "The Chase" a fast and furious slice of action music that segues into some heroic variations on the Cocoon theme; this is more familiar Horner territory, harking back to his Star Trek scores and ahead to the likes of Project X.

I was worried when I heard some of the pre-release speculation that Intrada had added a lot of Big Band music, but it's clear, despite some references to established songs, that Horner created new music in the spirit of what these characters might have been hearing and dancing to in the ballroom. Still, that's a little troubling, since whether it's the actual Big Band music or just Horner's recreations of it, it's still not what I was seeking when I bought this, and after playing those cues realize that they are NOT my cup of tea. So if we delete them from the total, it seems to be whittling down and getting closer to what we already have on the original soundtrack.

I’m so sad to read that Horner’s Big Band Music is not your “cup of tea” – since after reading the liner notes, you can clearly read that the music is fun! Quite the opposite to what Hans Zimmer did for “Man of Steel” – which is dark! Hear those beautiful drums in the Big Band sequences of Cocoon! Exquisite Fun! How can you not love that!

In Cocoon, we also have those memorable themes in First Tears, and Sad Goodbyes which is hauntingly beautiful – unlike today’s “big blockbusters” which is pure wallpaper crap. Every note of music here is rich and colorful.

Please Intrada, release “Cocoon: The Return” as a follow up. If both of James Horner’s “Star Trek” scores can get released, (and the Jack Ryan/Harrison Ford films) then – so can Cocoon. Please!

Please Intrada, DON'T! It's a very weak follow-up, in fact it's just a thinner rehash of the original, which, despite one very obvious rip-off of Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (and probably of a few other pieces as well, it's Horner after all) is one of his finest and most continuously listenable scores.